Tag Archives: Dreams

Recently, I was blessed to witness one of my best friends get married. It was a great weekend, full of laughter and fun with three of my closest friends. But it was also a weekend of stark realizations.

Life is change. You can’t escape it. You can’t hide your head in the sand and hope it goes back to what it was. Change is inevitable.

Trish, Joann, Me and Christine

Years ago a friendship was forged between four women. We walked through some of the deepest valleys of my life together, and they held me along the way. For hours each week we would laugh, cry, and share our lives with each other. When I moved to Oregon in 2008, our friendship began to change. Since then, I have been trying to recapture what we had. And as I flew out that weekend for the wedding, my expectation was no different.

As the weekend wore on, I began to realize, that what we had can’t be recaptured. But it has changed and grown over the years into something better. But to enjoy the better, I have to let go of the old. Change is easy to do, but harder to live with.

Life doesn’t stop just because I want it to. It moves on. People change, weddings and babies happen. Distance separates us. I watch my friends move on and feel like I have been left in that valley; struggling to get out of the muck, as everyone else leaves me behind. I feel the same way when it comes to my hopes and dreams. They are always within grasp, but never quite realized.

Yes that is water about to boil. 🙂

That is the reality of dreams. They aren’t meant to be caught, they are meant to be surpassed and new ones take their place. They are like change, it happens when you aren’t looking. Just like watching water boil. You can stare at it for ever. Even give up and turn away. But until all the elements have aligned, the dream will not come to fruition.

As I grow and change so do my dreams. God shapes me and makes me more like Christ. My eyes are opened to who I am in him, and they begin to take a more solid shape.

Just like change, dreaming is easy. But achieving them is not. We have to work to accept change and allow dreams to happen. Because dreams and change are one in the same. And our success is found in allowing ourselves to change as well as those around us. When we accept our change, chasing our dreams becomes fun. And when you allow those around you to change, you discover how beautiful they are when they chase their dreams.

What dreams are you chasing? What dreams do you wish you had the courage to chase?

Words and pictures have always been meaningful to me, and I have always had a vague dream of using them some day.

Maybe I could travel the world, and tell people’s stories.

Or capture a moment in time to share with the world.

As I finished Packing Light, by Allison Veserfelt, (Allison’s Blog), I wondered if my dream was even still alive. However, her words, gave me permission to dream again. My hand grasped that door knob and I wondered if the dream was too tired after all these years to come to fruition. But I tentatively turned the knob, yanked on the door as the hinges were rusted over from years of neglect and my dream rushed into reality.

Joy filled my soul. Each step God gave me the choice. Each time it became easier to say yes!

It hasn’t been easy! I have had to push passed my insecurities and trust that God knows what He is doing.

I am a writer, and a photographer. I love to tell the stories behind my pictures. What I see, what I feel, and the joy that moment brings me. In that truth I have found true joy. For true joy is only found when I pour my gifts out at His feet. When I believe that He is good and He wants me to find joy in life.

What is your dream? Are you brave enough to open that door and see what He does? Tell me about it below.